Flexible waste-pipe cleaner.



No. 657,858. 'v Patented Sept. :1, I900.

L. A. CORNELIUS.

FLEXIBLE WASTE PIPE CLEANER.

(Application filed Feb 15, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheat l.

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Patenfed Sept. ||,.|9o0.

L. A. CORNELIUS.

' FLEXIBLE WASTE PIPE CLEANER.

2 Sheets-Shoot 2.

(No Model.)

E z I UNTTED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

LOUIS A. CORNELIUS, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN. I

FLEXIBLE WASTE-PIPECLEAN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,858, dated September 11, 1900.

Application filed February 15, 1900. Serial No. 5,380. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS A. CORNELIUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Flexible Waste-Pipe Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and improved tube-cleaner for cleaning Waste-water pipes and for other similar purposes; and the invention consists in a tube-cleaner comprising a solid handle and an elastic cup-shaped plunger having a socket or ferrule at its upper end adapted to receive the handle and a valve opening into the interior of the cupshaped plunger and having an air=passage in said valve through-the walls of the cup-shaped plunger.

The objects of my invention are, first, to produce an efficient tube-cleaner having an air-tight valve in the cup-shaped plunger itself and an opening extending through the walls of the plunger; second, to dispense with the boring or piercing of the handle of the plunger, and, third, to increase the efficiency of the plunger by combining the valve and opening from the valve in the plunger itself. These objects I accomplish by means of the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a vertical sectional view of the cup-shaped plunger with the handle in place, illustrating my preferred form of valve and opening through the walls of the plunger. Fig. 2 shows the valve closed, the pressure against the same being from below. Fig. 3 shows the valve open, the pressure being from above and the opened valve allowing the air to pass into the bell-shaped elastic cup. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail View at right angles to the preceding figures and showing the valve open.

A A represent a flexible or enlarged portion of the plunger.

B B represent the socket or ferrule of the plunger which receives the handle D. The ferrule is provided with a shoulder at the bottom, (shown by E.) This shoulder may be annular in form or may be solid, extendin g entirely across below the lower end of the handle D, as shown in Fig. 1.

O 0 represent an opening which, in the example of myinvention illustrated in the drawings, extends entirely through the solid portion of the plunger below the lower end of the handle and is in communication with a valve V, so as to allow the air to pass down ward through the valve V.

The valve V may be constructed in any suitable form. A cheap and efficient valve may be constructed by molding a projection in the plunger and piercing the same through the center by a knife or sharp tool, as shown by dotted lines; but any other well-known form of valve may be used.

I have shown and described my preferred form of valve and opening} but it will be evident that the opening 0 need not pass entirely through the plunger, but need only pass from the valve to one side. Neither is it necessary that the valve should be located at the exact point shown in the drawings, inasmuch as the same may be located either in one side or the other of the cup-shaped plunger and would be equally operative as if located in the center, as shown.

By my construction it is not necessary to bore the handle, and the valve in the plunger itself is more efficient than a valve closing against the end of a Wood handle. Another advantage of my invention consists in the fact that the opening to the valve may be readily and quickly cleaned. This is a matter of considerable importance, as these tubecleaners are used inside of waste-water pipes, and While the valve prevents any air or Water or other material from passing upward through the valve when the plunger is drawn out of the tube or pipe and the air sucks in and through the plunger it is liable to gather filth and dirt into the opening connecting the valve with the outside of the plunger. In the tube-cleaner constructed in accordance with my invention the air-passage can be readily cleansed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to have invented, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A tube-cleaner comprising a flexible cupshaped plunger provided with a solid handle and having a valve located in said plunger and an opening extended from said valve through the wall of the plunger, substantially as described.

2. In a tube-cleaner, the combination with In testimony whereof I have hereunto set aflexible cup-shaped plunger-Aprovided with my hand in presence of two subscribing wita socket B and a solid handle D, and having nesses.

an opening 0 0 extended through the plun- LOUIS A. CORNELIUS. 5 ger-wall, of a valve V located in said plunger Witnesses:

and in communication with said opening, sub- EDWARD TAGGAR'I',

stantially as described. JAMES B. DAVIES. 

